Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-05-21

o.
society, and one day opened their prison
and drove them away. The birds tool
flight to Pera, and what was the surprise
of the inhabitants of that Christian sub
urb, when they saw beat down upon
their roofs and against their windows 6
swarm of paroquets, macaws, and cocks-
toes, which seemed to have fallen from
heaven.
Three kinds of public schools exist in
Turkey-the mahale meklebs (the pri-
mary schools), the ruchdiyes (the upper
primary schools), and the medresses (the
schools of the mosques). Every Turkish
city is divided into mahales, each OF
which is provided with primary school,
founded and supported by special be-
quests, and in which only the alphabet
and the reading OF the Koran are taught
but the rudiments of writing are ex-
, Guided.
The instructors are almost always select
ed from the imams of the districts. They
sit or squat for many hours upon a small
platform covered with mat or carpet.
Covered with white or green turban (if
they are hadjis, that is, if they have made
pilgrimage to Mecca, they make a
| backward and forward movement with
their heads, so prolonged and so regular
that European that should look at them
ten minutes would be sessick. Accom-
panying this motion of the head, the
teachers chat monotonous litany, the
words of which are the different letters
of the Turkish alphabet, or verses from
the Koran; and it is by repeating this
chant and by initiating these movements
of the head after the manner of black
/ hoorS fhoF ha ms 9 oil 70
of reading and religion. Children enter
these schools at the age of five, and re-
main there five or six years, paying q fee,
which is not required of the poor.
When pupils leave the district schools
they can enter the ruchdiyes, more ad-
vanced class of schools, and entirely free
There they can learn reading and get
their first knowledge of Turkish writing
i-sulus, the writing of common books,
and rlca, commercial writing. They are
taught a little arithmetic, an abridgement
of Turkish geography and, finally, the
history of the Ottoman empire, written
according to the custom of the faithful.
| The MusSuImanic amour propre is
touchy, and Turks do not admit within
the sanctuary of their history either their
political or military defeats, or the pecca-
the ruchdiyes are usually given in Arabic
and include no knowledge of science.
The professors in these schools are
highly esteemed by the Turks, and the
superintendent receive the pompous
title of recteurs.
The schools of the mosques are superb
or to the ruChdiyes. Pupils enter these
when they are from eighteen to twenty
paars nj oud rapoi in tbara for tiffoop 4
even twenty years. They are lodged, red
and clothed gratuitOusly, and live in COM
psnies OF from twenty to fifty and even
100 ia number, in special buildings called
medresses. There are more than 500 me-
dresses in Stsmboul alone. During Ram
azan the pupils of the medresseG scatter
themselves over the provinces, which
open their mosques, and here these old
students distribute among their simple
minded auditors the mama of their re-
ligious and astrological studies, which
brings them some money.
On leaving the medresSes, at the res
pectabIe age of thITtY-fve or forty years,
certain number of students become
cadis Judges, muftis presidents Of tri-
bunals), TeCteurs councillors of the Di
van), secretaries of state, and even min
ISJCAo' 4uS LuOSG lllpOI tdAG pGTSOudSSS
of the empire have lived in the medresses.
Many others. however, do not obtain any
ofice-a deprivation that does not trou-
BILE them much if they are rich and iudo-
lent, or even if they are poor, for then
they draw their support from the va
koufs, which do not permit them to want
for anything. When the Ottoman en-
pire was at the height of its glory, the
schools of the mosques enjoyed great
reputation. To-day the only important
courses of lectures delivered are the Ara
bic and religious lectures; and the me-
dresses may be looked upon as verltable
schools of Mohammedan theology. Reli-
gious and civil law being, however, min
gled more or less in the Koran, one can
easily understand why it is that religious
instruction holds the first place in public
education.